Name: Isoon Tepsaskul
Picture title: The Birds
Category: Underwater
Nationality: Thailand
Occupation: Own business in engineering
Technical information:
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye
EXIF: ISO 400, f9, 1/100 sec
Accessories: Nauticam Housing without strobe
HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY UNDERWATER
Isoon Tepsaskul | The Birds
Name: Isoon Tepsaskul
Picture title: The Birds
Category: Underwater
Nationality: Thailand
Occupation: Own business in engineering
Technical information
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye
EXIF: ISO 400, f9, 1/100 sec
Accessories: Nauticam Housing without strobe
Isoon says:
Every year tens of thousands of Mobula rays visit the coast lines of Sea of Cortez in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The congregations of rays are one of the most incredible natural spectacles on our planet. Taken just about 15 minutes from Cabo San Lucas pier in the morning of a sunny day in the middle of June. We luckily found a big school of Mobula rays swimming below us. I quickly grabbed my snorkel, mask, fins, camera and plunged back in and swam as slowly as I can to avoid spooking them.
Hundreds of Mobula rays elegantly flapping their wings like a flock of birds on the bottom of the sea and some times come up near the surface. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen in my life. I realised that the opportunity like this with this precious creature is priceless. The silhouette shot of a school of Mobula rays with dapple light above them was always in my imagination before coming to Sea of Cortez. To get my dreamed picture, I slowly moved to find the position that put myself behind them and the sunshine. However, it was not easy to take a picture of them because they were very, very shy and required long time waiting to get truly close to them.
After about 20 minutes with me diving down and up again and again, I finally got lucky. They swam up near the surface and, at that moment, I was exactly in the right position. Bingo! I got the shot. What a great time of diving, I can not wait to return some time some day.
About Isoon:
Thailand
I fell in love with the sea at first sight when I was a five year old boy. After the first time I put my head in the water with my brother’s goggles, I could not get the underwater world out of my head. I always spent my high school and university holidays skin diving in Southern Thailand with friends. Unfortunately, after graduation there was not much time for this as a young engineer.
I spent most of my time working. But taking up scuba diving in 2014 after my business had established, was the turning point. It brought me back to my beloved underwater world again.
.This time it was different though compared to skin diving, reaching deeper into the ocean. Scuba diving is a never ending world of learning. I saw many fishes and sea creatures I had been dreaming about since seeing them on TV when I was younger. I didn’t want to just keep them in my memory, so I bought a DSLR camera with housing in 2014. Since then, I have not dived without a camera.